Terms were not released, but a source said it was a three-year deal with an option.

While Stewart has won three Cup championships, including one at SHR in 2011, Harvick has never won a Cup title. He finished third in points in 2010-2011.

“The decision to make the change was just from a standpoint of needing to make a change from really a personal standpoint to just kind of rejuvenate exactly what you’re doing,” Harvick said. “For me, the situation with Tony and having that relationship with a guy that is going to be sitting in the cars next to you and having that kind of teammate that has won championships and a team that has won championships in the last couple of years is something that is just exciting.

“Then you add in the Hendrick support side of it and there is a lot to draw from. It wasn’t anything personal from a Richard standpoint or a team standpoint doing anything wrong.”

Stewart-Haas is closely aligned with Hendrick Motorsports, getting cars and engine from the organization.

Harvick has driven for Richard Childress since replacing Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500. He has won two races this season and currently is fourth in the standings.

Stewart and Harvick are good friends, and Stewart won the first Nationwide Series race for Kevin Harvick Inc.

“When I drove the Nationwide car, I know how competitive he is,” Stewart said. “I know how much he pushes the guys. I know how he pushes myself as a driver and I know how we communicated, and that’s a big factor is communication.”

If racing for a friend wasn’t good enough, SHR co-owner Gene Haas guaranteed Harvick that he would foot the bill for the car even if no sponsors could be found.

“You have Tony as a teammate, who has been a big part of what we did at KHI and helped us get it started, and we have a friendship that goes beyond the racetrack,” Harvick said. “Obviously, Gene Haas makes it very intriguing with the guarantees that he made to make the deal happen to keep the car on the racetrack.

“When you have a family and you start seeing those guarantees of sponsorship for the car, it makes you think about things. Not only those two pieces, but the Hendrick tie with the engines and the support, understanding that, the potential is really high with all those resources and relationships and things that go with it.”

The team did find sponsorship. Budweiser, which is in its third year at RCR, will follow Harvick to Stewart-Haas and sponsor the team for 20 races.

The team is talking to several other sponsors and Stewart feels good about having Harvick’s car fully funded in 2014.

Harvick was not involved in any of the sponsorship negotiations.

“We went to the team at SHR, we worked at my contract and they basically guaranteed what the car would have on it on the racetrack and they basically took full responsibility to figure out what direction they wanted to go from a sponsorship standpoint and how to make it go around,” Harvick said. “It didn’t have one dollar of sponsorship when I singed the contract.”

Harvick’s car will carry the No. 4 to go along with Stewart’s No. 14 and Danica Patrick’s No. 10.

“The entire organization is excited about having him come on board,” Stewart said. “It was a lot of work to get to that. It started two years ago, I guess, (with) the thought process of hiring another driver.

“It’s not something that a decision was made overnight; there were a lot of processes in between that made it a long journey, but we are here.”